Electrode arrangements and methods are now quite widely utilized in connection with medical apparatus to apply electrical signals through electrodes to the skin of a user, as well as to monitor and/or sense electrical signals at the skin of a user.
Electrodes are widely known, for example, that are usable in connection with transcutaneous nerve stimulating (TENS) units to apply electrical signals to a user with the applied electrical signals being suitable for stimulating nerve fibers to thereby suppress pain, and such electrodes, again by way of example, are known to be useful in connection with monitoring apparatus (such as heart monitoring) by detecting electrical signals at the skin of a user.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,783 (Roberts) shows a biomedical electrode having an electrically conductive metal film with a conductive adhesive at one side and an insulative web at the other side and with a conductor plate inserted from the edge of the electrode to make contact with the electrically conductive film. U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,247 (Ware et al.) shows a post-operative electrode having a conductive sheet of carbon loaded rubber with a conductive adhesive at one side and a foam plastic backing layer at the other side and with a wire lead extending from the edge of the electrode along the length of the conductive rubber sheet to make contact with the conductive rubber sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,051 (Wittemann) shows a disposable electrode having a conductive mesh layer with a conductive adhesive material at one side and a fabric layer at the other side and also shows a wire having insulating tape thereover extending from the edge of the electrode across the conductive mesh layer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,752 (Munck et al.) shows a transcutaneous medical electrode having a conductive ink pattern as the conductive layer with an adhesive conductor at one side and a backing sheet upon which the conductive ink pattern is deposited at the other side.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,023 (Kuhn) shows a self-adhering electrode having a metal conductive layer with a temperature sensitive adhesive tape at one side and a conductive substrate at the other side, with a removable liner being deposited over the conductive substrate, and with the adhesive tape having an aperture in the center thereof for allowing a tab on the metal conductive layer to extend upwardly from the top of the electrode. U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,381 (Way et al.) shows a multipad-multifunction electrode having a metal foil contactable with the ends of a connector lead through apertures in the plastic foam backing cover. U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,879 (Ong) shows an electrode with a disposable interface member with the electrode having an electrically conductive and adhesive sheet with an insulative backing and a snap connector extending through the backing sheet to make contact with the electrically conductive and adhesive sheet.
While some known electrodes have been achieved that are relatively simple in structure, there still exists a need for an electrode with a structure allowing the electrode to be of sufficiently low cost to be truly disposable and yet be effective for a particular short use, such as, for example, as a diagnostic electrode capable of determining usability of a particular device with respect to a particular user (such as, for example, use of a TENS unit to demonstrate that the unit is effective with respect to suppressing pain of that user).